Loosduinen

Loosduinen, a neighbourhood in The Hague, is the focus area of Human Security Collective’s new project in the Netherlands. In collaboration with Justice and Peace Netherlands and STEK (‘for City and Church’), the aim is to improve social cohesion in the neighbourhood by supporting the ideas of local citizens from a diversity of backgrounds to jointly improve livability in the area.
As a first step in this process, a social mapping exercise has been carried out, the report for which has just been finalized(July 2017). The aim of this exercise was to analyze opportunities and garner/challenge local citizens’ perceptions of the neighbourhood. 32 citizens of Loosduinen and 10 representatives of government and local organizations were interviewed for the report. Through these interviews, a picture of the current strengths of, as well as the challenges faced in Loosduinen has been established. The voices of the interviewees along with their vision of Loosduinen are presented in the report, which will soon be made available on our website.
In the coming months, HSC, together with Justice & Peace and STEK, will organize meetings where the main findings of the report will be discussed with citizens of Loosduinen, including the interviewees. During these meetings, ideas for the way forward, inlcuding on how to improve the livability in Loosduinen will be shared. At a later stage, these ideas will be transformed into action plans that will be followed through by a group of dedicated and passionate citizens from Loosduinen. Simultaneously, the three organizations will also share the findings of the report with representatives of local government and local organizations, and discuss their role in improving the livability of the area.

Post the social mapping of this area in The Hague, ideas were solicited from those living there on ways of improving community resilience and the livability of the area. Watch the video of a meeting discussing ideas here. Applications for funding were invited to implement an idea for the neighbourhood.